


Winter Wonder

by Cottonstones



Category: SHINee
Genre: M/M, Winter
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-06-17
Updated: 2012-06-17
Packaged: 2017-11-07 22:43:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 986
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/436255
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Cottonstones/pseuds/Cottonstones
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It's a long, cold walk home from work and Jinki has too much time to think.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Winter Wonder

Jinki doesn’t get home until after the sun has set. The street lamps are on and the night is chilly. He stuffs his hands into his jacket pockets and wishes he had enough sense to remember to buy a pair of gloves. He lives in a small apartment; he doesn’t make much as a butcher’s assistant, but it’s a place for Jinki to call home and he’s proud of it.

He climbs the stairs to the third floor, his keys jangling heavy in his pocket when he lets himself into his apartment. He has a drink, maybe two or three, just to unwind, maybe to stifle some part of his brain that inevitably asks, Didn’t you want something more?.

There’s a knock on the door when Jinki is starting in on a fourth drink. He’s not drunk, just warm, dethawed from his chilled walk home. His coat is draped ugly against the couch like a shed skin and he stumbles over his own feet and not because the booze when he goes to answer the door. He pulls it open enough that the little gold chain lock catches and he can’t get out as much as the other person can’t get in.

Jonghyun is standing on the other side of the door, one big, dark eye peering in at Jinki.

Jonghyun rattles the doorknob. “Let me in, hyung, it’s freezing out here.”

“The building doesn’t have a good heater,” Jinki says as he closes the door to slide the chain off. He pulls it back open, revealing Jonghyun fully.

Jonghyun is decked out in winter wear, a thin jacket peeking out from under an open puffy dark blue coat, with mittens and a hat and a big, dumb smile – but the smile is a year-round occurrence. Jinki moves aside and lets Jonghyun come inside. In Jonghyun’s hands, there’s a box that he hadn’t noticed at first glance.

“It’s so cold lately,” Jonghyun says.

Jinki nods. “It is.”

Jonghyun grins. “That’s why I have something for you, hyung.”

“Something for me?”

Jonghyun hands over the box. Jinki blinks at it a few times before he slips off the messy ribbon tied around it. He lifts the top of the box while Jonghyun watches, still wearing his winter coat, sweat trickling down the side of his face. He’s smiling.

Inside the box is a soft, crocheted hat. Jinki lifts it out of the box like it’s a precious treasure. He sets the box aside and holds the hat in his hands. The hat is grey with little hints of yellow threaded throughout. “You bought me a hat?”

Jonghyun waggles a finger at Jinki. “Ah, ah, ah. I made you a hat!”

His cheeks warm and he looks at Jonghyun. “You made me a hat?”

“Well, yeah. It’s not so great. I’m a beginner and hats are sort of for mid-level crafters. It’s kind of funny-looking.”

It actually is funny-looking. The hat is misshapen, the little flaps on the side uneven, and when Jinki puts it on and pads over to the mirror, it looks like a lopsided, deflating mess. It’s soft, though, and warm, and Jonghyun made it with him in mind. Fuck, he even finds the obvious flaws endearing.

“Kibum said to scrap it and start over, but I think it has charm, flaws and all.”

The words bruise Jinki’s heart because, even though Jonghyun is talking about a hat, it still feels like something that could apply to Jinki himself. He can’t even count how many times he thought he should’ve been scrapped, parts used for something better. Now, with his funny little hat on, he can look at himself and Jonghyun’s words will echo in his head. Maybe someone will find him endearing.

“You like it?” Jonghyun asks.

Jinki touches the hat and smiles. “I do. Thank you so much.”

Jonghyun tugs down his zipper and sheds his own layer of skin, his thin jacket damp and his hair all mussed when he tugs off his hat. “Minho told me he’d see you walking home sometimes. He said you didn’t have a hat.”Jinki shrugs. He’s still wearing the hat when Jonghyun steps closer, touching Jinki’s hip. “I think the hat suits you.”

Jinki blushes and remembers he hadn’t showered before Jonghyun came over. He probably still stinks like blood and meat and he’s embarrassed to have Jonghyun this close. Jonghyun smells sweet, like syrup and sugar and the bitter cling of coffee beans sticking to his skin from working at the coffee shop alongside Kibum.

He can’t actually think of anything to say when Jonghyun’s hand slips under the hem of his shirt and brushes the skin there, his touch warmer than Jinki has been all night. Whenever he can’t think of anything to say, all the stupid shit inside his head pours out, so instead of saying, “You make me happy,” he says, “I didn’t know you crocheted.”

Jonghyun shrugs. “I just started. Kibum bought me a book because I always complain when there are no customers and he was tired of my bitching. It was a joke, but then I thought it looked fun and I took it up. Do you have mittens, Jinki?”

“Mittens?” Jinki’s head is really not catching up to this conversation.

Jonghyun takes his hands and squeezes lightly. “Mittens, yeah. Do you own some?”

“Oh, well, no, I don’t. I guess I didn’t think about the cold.”

“That’s how you get sick, dummy. I guess I’ll have to make you some of them, too – you know, to go with the hat.”

“You’d do that for me?” Jinki asks. The last person who had made him mittens was his grandmother when he was a child, far too long ago.

Jonghyun laughs a little – not mean, just like he’s surprised that Jinki wouldn’t believe it. “Of course,” he says, and seals his words with a soft kiss to Jinki’s cheek.


End file.
